Shannon started out in 1970 as Demon Distribution, under Des Dolan and Pascall Mooney. Its prime function was as an importer and distributor of Irish records but for a short time it also ran its own 'Demon' label (q.v.). 'Record Retailer' (5th Sept 1970) reports that the company had changed its name to Shannon Distribution after discussion with Mike Clerkin, who as well as being the boss of Irish label Release was also one of the main directors of Demon. Shannon specialized in importing Irish records but in the early '70s it responded to problems of availability by having certain popular Irish records pressed over here for release in the UK - they usually came out on the original labels with their original catalogue numbers. Companies involved included Release, Ruby, Target and Play (q.v. all); see also Hawk (Ireland). As well as supplying product directly it arranged for wider distribution via the BIRD network of independent distributors. According to 'RR' of the 28th of November 1970 Shannon was intent on putting out records on its own label, the first such being an LP, 'A Great Day For The Irish' (SH-901). Googling fails to bring any copies of that album to light, and it may be that the only record to emerge on the Shannon label was the EP shown above, 'The Shannon Country Music Sampler' (SC-1001; 1977); Dolan and Clerkin did however start a label called 'Hit' in 1971, which 'RR' of the 22nd of May describes as 'A subsidiary of Shannon' - see 'Hit (1971-72)'. The 'Country Music' EP appears to have been intended to advertize some of the LPs that could be obtained through the firm - the tracks on it were severely edited, and were taken from albums on Irish labels such as Release and Hawk - and it seems very likely to have been given away rather than sold. The label design was very similar to that used for a Shannon-distributed label called Country (q.v.) in 1973-74. For the sake of interest (!) a list of the Irish singles that are listed in 'Music Master' as being distributed by Shannon during the second half of the 1970s is given below. There were a lot of others in the first half of the decade - 'RR' (287h Nov 1970) says that more than 100 were available at that time - but they never made it to the pages of 'MM'. Demon / Shannon started out in premises at 30 Bardolph Rd, London N7; at some point it shared an address with Saga Records at 326 Kensal Road, London W10, though the address given on the cover of this EP is 240/242A Kilburn High Road, NW6. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the scan and for bringing the label to my attention.
Copyright 2008 Robert Lyons.